Man with the plan
by Case-USMC1371
Summary: When the Third Great War came to a close, I never expected to be killed with nuclear fire. I also never expected to be chosen to undertake a multi-universe spanning mission! Oh well, I get to meet some people that are friggen awesome at least! Contains multiple Universes, but Halo and Mass effect are the major ones
1. Chapter 1

Yo, what' up everyone? Going to try a Self Insert now, hoping it goes good! Im still wokring on my first story, just trying to find a way to make it run smoother but I am starting a second one. Had this idea pop in my head and I wanted to flesh it out. It's going to have alot of crossover elements in it as well!

Assembly Species: Protoss, Human (My own make up), Eldar, Quarian (Eventually allowed asylum for entire species), Sangheili

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Starcraft, Halo, Mass Effect, or Warhammer, Or any other game or movie concept you will see in here!

Chapter 1

"Marcus! Get some fucking fire on that son of a bitch!"

"Big window, third floor!"

"I got it, I got it! Heads down, I'm letting loose" I yelled out. Let me tell you, firing a SMAW rocket launcher is cool and all, but firing in a smaller area, sucks majorly! They're loud, thanks to the rocket exhaust, and hot as hell from the heat of it firing. With the scream of the rocket flying from the tube, I brought hell down onto this window.

"Fuck yeah! Good hit! Lets move on up boys!" War is something that i was always scared about but excited about at the same time, I joined the United States Marine Corp to make my dad proud and it was something that I always dreamed about! But, after five years in the corp, was, finally became a reality. In early 2019, the Russian military let out a preemptive strike. The world was quickly thrown into war. The war raged on for another two years before we started hammering the russians back to there damn home. Right now, we made the push into Moscow itself. Between us, the Brits, Frenchies, and the Australians, and our smaller allies, we just busted our way through China, and started to advance towards the final goal, the Kremlin at the city center. Me and my platoon were tasked with taking the front gate and securing it so that the rest of the company can hold the flanks.

"Tank!"

Damn, the worst word we could here right now, the Russians used the T-90 Main Battle Tank. A good match up for our own Abrams tanks, which we had none of.

"Sgt. Marcus, do we have any more fucking rockets?" The Lt was a young man, fresh from college when the war started, but I managed to keep his head on straight during it so no one would end up fragging him.

"Fuck no sir! We need something heavier anyways! Is 'War-Pig' still in the AO?"

"No, all we have is indirect support then, Start calling the shots!"

"'Long-Reach', this is Saber One, 'Long-Reach' this is Saber One, how copy?"

"We read you loud and clear Saber One, what do you need wiped from the earth?"

"We need heavy fire support in grids 13 through 14, danger close, I repeat, danger close, how copy?"

"Good copy Saber One, keep your heads down, were about to lay the hurt on these mother fuckers, out"

"Sir, we got fire coming in, get your fucking heads down everyone!"

As the tank rumbled closer and started peppering us with MG fire, we could hear the glorious screaming of 155mm artillery rounds coming down hard right in front of us. What was not a good sound, was when the tank managed to get a round out from its 120mm cannon towards me and the Lt. I was thrown all the way towards the pile of rubble that was part of the damn Kremlin itself. I had no idea where the Lt was. Radio that I was carrying was busted completely, and i'm pretty sure I broke my arm when I hit the rubble. Tanks gone though, on the upside. Okay, orders are to raise the flag, and I just so happen to have a flag. Great, this, is going to suck.

"Marcus, you still kicken?" I hear over our wireless com set with the plt. I guess the Lt's still alive!

"Yeah man, but fuck this shit hurts, where are you?"

"I'm at the gate house with the rest of the guys, we lost Percy and Lismon. Where are you?"

"I'm on the fucking Kremlin, blast through me to the rubble pile of the left side."

"We cant get to you man, to much debris and shits in our way. Bunker down and wait for us, we'll find a way to you!"

With a groan, I sit back on the ground and lean against a bigger piece of rubble. My rifles gone, but at least I still have the piece of shit pistol, the M9 is the last weapon I want right now. After about ten minutes of resting around, I can hear the scrabbling of boots on debris. lazily raising my pistol in the direction its coming from, I can hear the Lt say something to someone else, and then he's rounding the corner.

"Jesus fuck Marcus, you look like shit!"

"Heh, fuck off, I feel like shit, but at least nothing major is bleeding."

"I got some bad news man, you're not gonna like it."

"Lay it on me, brother."

"We're to move to the top of the building and take it and hold it for extraction choppers."

"Well fuck, that means we can get out of here, lets move."

"We're to exfil because the building is rigged to blow in nuclear fire, in five minutes. Choppers wont be here for a while,"

"So, we're just fucked then huh? I say lets at least hang the flag, one last insult." With that said, 26 US Marines, beaten, bruised, and bloodied, moved towards a flag pole on top the building. Just as the American flag unfurled at the top, everything went white.

"Where the fuck am I? Lt! Anyone!?"

"Calm down, soldier. You're safe." Spoke a mysterious voice.

"I am no soldier, I'm a fucking Marine, and who the hell are you? Where the fuck am I?"

"You can just call me the Watcher, human, and as for where you are, well, lets just say Purgatory for now, you wouldn't understand otherwise" Spoke the now Identified Watcher. This is getting creepy, because as he (obviously a dude based on how deep the voice was) was talking, a large computer rose up from the white ground in front of me. "Any idea why I have what you call a 'computer' in front of you?"

"Not a single, fucking clue, just tell me my punishment and send me to hell already!" I'm normally a patient man, but after everything I just went through, I think I deserve the right to be a little pissy.

"Now, now, look at the screen. One of your friendly helicopters managed to take this photo before the explosion." As I look at the screen, I quickly realize it's a picture of me standing next to the flag pole, raising the tattered, and burnt American Flag over the Kremlin. "The picture, right now is going viral all over the U.S. and its allies. The young, bloodied, and broken, but not beat American man that despite all odds, made it to his goal. You are now a Legend, my boy. You should be proud!"

"What's there to be proud of? I was just doing my job, and I was even killed in the process." I was in a somber mood at the moment. Yeah, back home I may be seen as a hero, but that's not going to correct the fact that I'm not going to be going home.

"I think he needs to speak with you, maybe you can cheer him up?" O.K., that was not directed at me, so who else is the Watcher talking too? As I turn around to look behind me to see if anyone was there, I hear a voice I thought I would never hear again...

"I think he needs a good old fashioned ass whooping! Hey Johnny boy, it's been a long time."

The whole place seemed to just freeze in time. Standing not even three feet from me, is the man that I looked up to the most, and had my back everyday of my life that he drew breath. It's been over a decade since I last seen my grandfather in person. But he's here, right now, in front of me!

"Come on, give you're old pa-pa a hug!" Not a lot of folks can say they've ever seen a grown man cry, and even fewer can say they've seen a War hardened Marine cry his eyes out. I cant help it as I hug the man tightly. "Dang, Jonny, you've gotten big since last I seen you!" His laugh is the exact same. I'm to scared to let go of him for fear that it was all just some cruel joke!

"Come on now, it's okay, I'm not going anywhere for the time being, come on, you need to see these photos that hes trying to show you, trust me, they'll make you feel good and proud!"

"Yes, Grandpa, ok..." I can barely bring the strength to let go of him and turn to the computer again. On it my face has that lopsided grin I always seem to have in pictures when I knew I did something good! Then it changed. The next image was one of my surviving old company men walking up to my mothers door. My dad was there as well which confused me, they'd been divorced most of my life.

I couldn't see him, but I could just feel the Watchers gaze shift to me. "Your father had seen the photo first, and read the report. He was devastated over the loss of his son. He was so proud of you, I hope you know. He took it upon himself to let the rest of your family know." The photo changed again. The next one was at a memorial for all the fallen during the war. When the sheet covering it was pulled away, my heart stopped. The statue was a metal shaping of me standing behind a metal rendition of the flag I raised on the Kremlin building. My whole family was sitting in the front row of the monument. On the base plate was the rest of the names of the men with me that day. It changed again, and this time, instead of being sad, the family was all gathered around my gravestone smiling, and laughing. There's a date on the bottom corner, May 23 2021. They finally did what I always asked them to do, get along for just one day. To bad it took losing me to make it happen.

"They really miss you Johnny." Grandpa had a a little smile on his face. "It brings me joy to see the man you've become, and how you affected so many people in a good way."

"Thanks, Grandpa, I wouldn't be half the man I am now if it wasn't for you."

"Young man, there's something I need you to do, that is why you are here right now." The Watcher sounded like he meant every word. "It is of great importance that you do this, and succeed at it. We can not afford failure"

"What is it that you want done?"

"You need to end another war, before it even begins. I do not see that happening, but I do believe that with your mind and will, you can save a great many people. End the war when it comes!"

"What war? How am I am supposed to do anything? I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Oh just shut up and listen, he picked you for a reason, so rest assured that there is a plan to get around that!" Grandpa said as he bopped me on the back of the head.

"I'm going to send you to a couple places first, so that you can learn to fight better then anyone in existence. Train your mind to think faster, and plan that much better! I have a plan for you! It will not be easy, and I can not protect you at all throughout your journey."

"Damn, that's some plan, whats the places you're sending me to?"

"You'll know them as videogames, but I influenced the creators of said games so that I can see who would maybe be able to complete this challenge."

"Okay? So what universes are you sending me to then?"

"I will first send you to the one you know as Halo, and once you complete that, then I will send you to Destiny, and then Starcraft, and finally, the hardest one will be Warhammer."

"Why so many?"

"Because in each place you will gain a new tactic, or a new power, or even simply new armor that will help you. Once you finish the tasks I give you when you get to each universe, I will bring you back here, and once you are here, the real adventure begins."

Looking over at my grandpa, I can see the look of pride in his eyes, that some omnipotent being would choose me to save even more people!

"I'll do it, lets get this started!"

"Rhino 1, do you have a copy, over"

"I read you loud and clear actual"

"Good, Rhino 1, is the target in your sights?"

"Yes, get that bird warmed up for me and ready for a hot pick up, I'm going to need it."

In the span of that conversation, my target had become centered in my reticule. My target was a minor prophet that had somehow gotten a couple hundred flood combat and infection forms to follow his will. Joining this world granted me the Spartan II body, and everything that comes with it. It was awesome.

"Alrighty, first test... Done." As soon as the last syllable left my mouth, I pulled the trigger on my sniper rifle. With a sharp crack, the entire top half of the Prophet was reduced to nothing. The flood started to roar and run towards my position, roughly 3 Kilometers away. Yeah, I made that shot! "Well, time to go!"

With a mighty echoing clang, my hammer of sol sprung to life in my hands as The massive knight's sword came flying towards me. My Armor resembled that of my mentor, Lord Saladin, Perfectly. Hammer of Sol in my left hand, and my Golden Last Word in my right, I couldn't help but smile!

"Today, Crixus the Tainted, I complete my second task!" With a swing of my hammer, I batted away the massive sword like it was a fly, and raised my hand cannon and took aim. "Two down, two to go!" With a final pull of the trigger and letting my hammer fly, the knights head disappeared in an explosion of fire and solar energy!

"Where the hell did you find that fucking monster of a gun, Marcus?!"

"Ha! I told you, I have no idea! But it's fucking great!" As me and another Marine, along with a few Loyal Zerg and a handful of Protoss Templars, charged up the final hill to reach the designated area, I was having a blast using my Hand cannon, turns out I got to keep it like I kept my Spartan body augments. "Come on, Fredricks, give me the targeting laser!" Our mission was a special one. Turns out there was another Xel'naga that was just slumbering. But Amon was trying to wake him, so we decided to just nuke the fucker and use the Protoss's massive space cannon for good measure. My task just so happened to be to destroy Albercoss the Forgotten, which was the S.O.B. I was about to laze for the nuke missiles!

"Target Acquired"

"Oh yeah baby, talk to me! Ha! We are go for destruction!" Just as I said that final word, the tell tale screaming of missiles flying over head was heard, and in a matter of seconds the entire valley was reduced to a barren wasteland, with no sign of the target left. "Huh, looks like we didn't need your flashy light show this time, eh Atricor?" Turns out, sixteen nuclear missiles will do the job instead.

'Yes, brother, I do believe we got him' it was always kinda weird when we talked but I got used to it eventually. I've been with Atricor since we started this little alliance.

"Three down, one left." I said under my breath.

"What was that, man?"

"Nothing Fredricks, nothing at all." I said with a smile on my face.

"Feast on his flesh!" As the Daemon lunged at me, I swung my Thunder Hammer up to meet it. Of course, I connected. With a roar, I kept the momentum going until I had spun around all the way and slammed the daemon head first into the Wraithbone walls. Behind me was the scared and huddled forms of a dozen Eldar children. I had never seen them before until I had landed on this Craft world. I can't say the Daemons are the only thing scaring them, seeings how a massive human in armor that made him at least nine feet tall was standing over them with an equally large hammer. And the coloration doesn't help, Pure silver and gold, along with a skull etched into the retractable visor, just like my buddy Raynor ha! The Hammer I found when I was fighting Tyranids a couple months back. The Astartes allowed me to keep it seeings how I could use it just like them.

"Don't worry, young ones, they wont touch you as long as I am breathing!" I confidently smirk at them.

"Come on now, kiddies, this way, follow the big man!" As I started walking down the long street, I couldn't hear any sounds of fighting. That troubles me, there's a daemon here that the Watcher said I need to dispose of for good, and apparently if I kill it with this particular hammer, it'll cease to exist! I was trying to find a safe place to hide the young ones so I could complete my mission, but I just couldn't abandon as I finished that thought, an Eldar came flying out from an alley to my left and jumped up on top of me! She started screaming and attempting to stab into my head and face with a Wraith Bone Dagger as I could feel tiny shuriken from one of there pistols pelt my chest armor! Good thing the Watcher did something to this armor and made it stronger then starship armor!

"Oi! Get the hell of me bitch!" as I tried and failed to grab her off of my shoulders. I'm pretty sure it was comical to watch, but it was not fun to have it happen to me!

"Die you filthy mon-keigh!" Oh hell no! I finally managed to grab one of her legs and fling her around to the ground in front of me. I positioned myself between the children and them to make it seem like I was trying to protect them. I raised my hand In a stop gesture as several more Eldar just appeared all in front of me with there weapons all trained on me!

"Woah woah woah, easy! I'm just trying to find someplace safe for the children! Look, I'll raise my visor and set down the Hammer, happy?" Doing what I said I was going to, I felt what was like tiny impacts on my legs as a few of the children clung to me like I was the only way to live! Woo hoo! hopefully that earns me some points!

"Lower your weapons, brothers and sisters, he does not lie." With that said, an Eldar in armor colored like a star itself walked out from behind the crowded Eldar in front of me. "Tell me, Human, why are you so far away from your own kind, and why are you making an effort to protect these children?"

"To be honest, I didn't come here to save anyone. I actually came to slay a Daemon."

"Oh? And what Daemon in particular, I sense a lot of warp essence on yourself and your weapons, you seem to have defeated many already."

"89 and counting actually, but no, I'm here for Igishel, ever heard of it?"

"Hmm a servant of She-Who-Thirsts? Why are you hunting it?"

"Honestly I was just kind of told to kill it, so I intend to do just that!"

"Well, slayer of Daemons and Savior of innocence, what is your name?"

"I'm John Marcus, you can just call me Seraph though, that's my callsign for now anyways."

"Well, Seraph, I am The Phoenix Lord Maugen Ra, and I hereby name you friend, of Eldar kind!" With that, he slammed his staff on the ground and in a second I found myself staring across an open field full of blood and Eldar and Daemon corpses, with a massive daemon, at least 9 Meters tall, standing only 100 meters away from me! Looking down I see my Hammer is sitting by my side so I pick it up and heft it onto my left shoulder.

"So, I suppose you are Igishel then?" The monster roared at me and just charged like a bull.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes!" And with that said, I charged at the Daemon and met it it halfway, for my final dance with death before the main attraction!

As I opened my eyes, I can see that I'm back in that strange white space where I met the Watcher.

"Congratulations, you have not only achieved victory in those worlds I sent you to, but you had even made a massive impact that affected everyone in each world! In two of the worlds, you destroyed an evil that would have wreaked untold destruction upon the innocent! And in the other two, you had ignited the flames of Hope and Kinship in two very different races! I knew I had picked right when I chose you to be my champion! Now, are you ready for the real thing?"

"Bring it on! I got this in the bag!" With my Mighty Hammer, my armor that made me a walking starship, my trusty Hand cannon that wreaked havoc on my enemies, and the body and mind of super soldiers, I felt like I was ready for everything!

"For your new adventure, I thought you could use some help, my boy! Open the door behind you, and meet and plan with your new allies!" Turning around, I can see a massive gold door. Walking up to it, I can faintly hear laughing and yelling coming from within. Taking a deep breath I open the door and met with another bright flash of light. When the light clears I don't hear anything but hushed whispers around me as my eyes adjust. When they do, the first thing I see is an elderly man in a white and black uniform standing right in front of me.

"Its good to see you again, son, although, you seem a lot more different." Chuckled out THE Admiral Hood!

"Sir, no disrespect, but what are you doing here?" I'm totally confused right now, how the hell is he here? Wait a minute, where is here anyways? Looking around I can see I'm in a massive room. The metal walls and floors were a gold and silver color. Looking up I can see through what seems like a glass ceiling, but what really makes my eyes bulge out of my head, is the massive forms of not one, but two Covenant Super carriers and thousands of smaller ships ranging from the assault carriers all the way to the corvettes! And a little farther away and mixed in with the Covenant ships is the unmistakable outlines and shapes of UNSC ships! I can even see a ship that's just like the Infinity! Between those two factions there has to be at least 5,000 ships! There's so many!

'Amazing sight, is it not brother?' With a startled jump, I whip around and see not only Atricor behind me but Artanis himself! The massive Protoss is looking at me with absolute respect in his eyes, while my brother-in-arms seems to be smirking at me! To the left of them I can also see the form of Thel Vadam in his golden Arbiter armor! And THE Rtas Vadum with his missing mandibles sitting next to him!

"Careful now, friend, don't over exert yourself." Whipping my head to the direction the calming but commanding voice came from, I can see Maugen Ra standing with another Eldar, a Farseer by the looks of her armor.

"Oh come on now, I wanna see the big lug pass out!" Turning around I can see Nova herself, and the unmistakable form of Jim Raynor in his armor! Standing behind him like she is hiding is the shape of Sarah Kerrigan, in her human form.

"I agree with the lady, he needs taken down a peg or two!" Came the gruff voice of yet another living legend! Sgt Major Avery Johnson stepped into my field of view, his trade mark cigar in his lips, just like Raynors.

"We were all told of the stakes for this task, John. We individually decided to assist you, and together, we are the Assembly. With Myself, Maugen, Thel, and Artanis forming your inner Council, we will advise you along the way and make sure this new nation we have going on here, runs smoothly. Don't let it go to your head son, but you are now in charge of over sixteen billion souls. What do you think?" With his piece said, Admiral Hood walked up to the central Holotable of what I can only assume is the bridge of the 'Spear of Adun' My council members and there respective partners all gathered around the table as well as myself. On the table I see a familiar shape of what I knew to be the Ark, except this one only had six 'petals' and seemed much larger if the readings were anything to go off of. Looking at the key shaped object off to the side of it, I know exactly where we are. Smirking and leaning forward to look at everyone I respond...

"First, we find Shepard."


	2. Chapter 2

Chaprer 2

"Shepard! Scans show an unidentified object just entered the system!" Joker yelled frantically over the radio!

"Any clue if it has spotted the _Normandy_ yet?" Jane Shepard asked. She stood roughly 5' 7", around average height. She had a body that only years of military work and good genes can give, but then again, so did a lot of women in the Alliance military. She wore the standard N7 armor with a red stripe down her right arm. Her most striking feature though was her vibrant red hair, and striking green eyes. It was no wonder that Jane was the poster girl for the Alliance for so long before her "death". It didn't hurt that she was one of the Alliances strongest biotics!

"I think they have, they're headed right for us Shep! Shit! This thing is larger then the _Destiny Ascension_ and coming in fast! I haven't seen anyti-zzzzzzzzzzzz" The transmission cut off just like that. Great, this was supposed to be just a brief stop to check out a distress beacon coming from this planet on their way to the Citadel! Turned out to just be a trap for Batarian slavers to try and get more 'merchandise'. After Mindoir, she has always hated Batarians with a passion! Now they also have to deal with losing comms with Joker, and a mysterious ship cruising towards them fast! Shit, she zoned out and even more slavers joined in on the fire fight! Her and her team were quickly becoming outnumbered! She had brought down Miranda and Jacob in hopes of three biotics being able to crush them easy and shut down the false alarm, but there was just so many of them! She was starting to tire out and now she was worried about Joker and the _Normandy._

"Sh-zz-ard, Shep-zzz, EDI, can you clean it up? Okay, Shepard can you hear me?"

"Oh thank god Joker! What's the situation up there? We might need a hot exfil!"

"Ugh, let me just say this now, cause this is friggen awesome, but yeah, I made some new friends! Look up and you'll see what I mean!" As Jane did what he said she could just barely make out a massive black shape in the cloud laden sky, and it was growing larger by the second! Just then she could spy what looked like four falling stars coming right for there position!

"Miranda, Jacob, get your heads down! We have incoming!"

Both Cerberus operatives ducked behind the sturdiest cover they could find and strengthened there barriers as much as they can. As soon as Jane tucked her head, the four objects collided with the ground right in front of her position! Even the Batarians stopped shooting and wondered what the hell they were! They looked like teeth a little bit, with the four pegs on there top looking like the roots, but she could tell they were pods. As soon as she finished that though, the side facing away from them blew open on each pod. Out of the farthest left pod came a massive gold and purple Alien that charged straight at the Pirates with what looked like blue omni-blades on each wrist, right next to it was another large alien in gold and red armor that looked just as ornate as the first alien, but this one seemed almost lizard like and let out a gutteral roar while holding what looked like a sword of bluish-purple energy in one massive four fingered fist! A insanely loud scream like wail was heard from her right as yet another unknown figure in form fitting black and red armor charged at the Pirates with an ornately carved sword along side a olive drab armored figure with what looked like an assault rifle that boomed away in its hand! The three melee weapons were just cutting through the pirates like they were made of wet tissue paper! That rifle just completely shattered there kinetic barriers like they weren't even there! It was like watching Gods of War descending on them! In a matter of seconds the four unknowns turned around and vaulted over the little cover that Shepard and her team had, the two massive aliens were just so weird! The first one didn't even have a mouth! As she was about to ask who the hell they are, a huge bolt of lighting struck the ground in the center of the pirates! Out of the smoke came a pirate flying with his chest looking like it was struck by something and just smashed!

"Damnit, why does he always have to go for the dramatic entrances!" The tall black and red armored figure, who was obviously a female based off her chest plate and body figure, huffed out over the open comm channel.

"You know how he is, he's always had a tendency to do that, it must be a human trait." The lizard that had FOUR mandibles for its mouth barked out to her left. Just then she heard a crack of thunder and what sounded like a man laughing? Peering over her cover she could see a Large Silver and gold armored figure with a fur cloak and collar swinging around a huge hammer that crackled with electricity! Every time it struck a pirate it either just caused them to explode or crushed them completely! This was an amazing sight, it even had her a little scared! The human like figure just swung around the hammer like it was a toy and was massacring them! Before she knew it, they were all dead and the figure was walking over towards them with the massive hammer just propped up on its left shoulder. The Helmet was a silver Helm with a golden visor, and the armor was mainly silver with gold highlights and edging along with carvings and motifs of what looked like wolves in it. It looked like it belonged in some sort of fantasy vid!

"Ha! That's another twenty-seven! How many did you get before I got here, brother!" joyously yelled out the approaching figure. What happened next was the strangest thing she had ever witnessed in her life! She thought he was talking to the other green armored humanoid, but the massive purple alien with no mouth RESPONDED, with telepathy! That everyone could hear!

'I only managed another nine before you crashed the party!'

"Ha! I win again, Atricor!" The big man just seemed to be a happy go lucky kinda man. It bothered her. "Agh, and you must be Shepard, I've been looking for you for quite awhile now, you wouldn't believe the things I've been hearing about you lately!" How can a man sound so happy while telling her people have been gossiping about her!

"Who is asking? We don't need some low life merc tailing us." Wow, Miranda does not seem happy about this at all. I now have her attention. Turns out, when I came to this world Shepard had just been killed by the collecters. I was not happy about that at all. No sir, I wanted to avoid that, for this reason alone. Cerberus is ran by an evil man, I did not want to be forced to deal with him in any other way then pointing a gun at him. Oh well, gotta live with what you got! So in that two year span, me and my council did everything we could to keep our existence unknown to as many people as possible. We bought out and forcibly took over a lot of the richer and big money making companies, and more or less used them as a front to hide us. I had started a "Mercenary Company" that was extremely camera shy and only did suicidal jobs, which means we could leave no witnesses for our more alien brothers and sisters. We had bought an older Alliance Cruiser to use to get around the galaxy. Now though, we're ready to enter the galactic scene. As we are sitting on this backwater planet right now, my Council of Advisers is on its way to the Citadel, aboard the _Spear of Adun_ with the two supercarriers we possess as heavy escorts and the _Infinity_ herself leading fifty of our largest and well armed combat ships right behind them. Each ship is outfitted with Forerunner style slipspace drives, as well as a Mass effect core just big enough in each ship to allow them to use the Mass Relays. I'm having Johnson record the whole thing for me! I wish I could see the Councilers faces when my boys roll into town! We're also keeping me a secret. To the galaxy, my Council of Advisers is the head of our people. I'll reveal myself in due time, but for now, it's best to lay low. Right now I even have my own personal fleet jumping in system behind my Flagship, _Undying Loyalty,_ a Infinity class starship. My own fleet sounds pretty awesome, but to everyone outside of it, Rtas Vadum is the Fleetmaster, which he is, but he secretly answers to me as well. Anyways, back to what I was doing! Oh, yeah, the smoking hot bitchy lady was being an ass!

"I would watch your tongue, Lawson, before I get the need to go to Illium." I went from my happy go lucky and aloof self, to Iron Lord Mode. Oh yeah, that's my title, Lord Hood and the others agreed Iron Lord had a nice ring to it. That and I thought it sounded cool... With that part said, her eyes almost bulged out of her head and she activated her biotics in anger, as soon as she did though, my big old Lizard pal, Karn, and my blood brother Atricor, both had there blades to her throat as my Eldar companion, Leanne had her sword positioned across Jacobs throat, and Michael had his M6D at his temple ready to fire. Shepard looked surprised, she didn't even see them move, and none of them targeted her. She did notice, however, that the man in front of her kept his helmeted gaze on her the entire time.

"Okay! Time to calm down, Lawson, watch your mouth around people, don't piss off the man with a giant hammer. And why did you guys go after Jacob? He didn't even twitch!"

"Meh, he looked like the kind to play hero." Spoke the woman in armor, nonchalantly.

"Guys, come back and sit down for a second, we need to have a chat with the Commander." I ordered, still in Iron Lord mode. I was not about to ease up the tension yet now that the two Cerberus members know what can happen to the at the drop of a hat.

"Joker, you getting this?" asked Jane on the comms.

"Ugh, yeah boss lady, and you're not going to believe what is up here!" Joker sounded like he was gob-smacked. Which he probably was guessing with whats probably up there with him right now.

"You should tell your pilot to send a shuttle to us, and then dock with my ship." I feel like I should at least tell Shepard what I really am. As my squad finds places to rest close by, Shepard has Joker do just that. She turns towards me after he responds to her.

"He wants to know which one is yours?..." She is clearly confused by what she heard him say, whatever it was. I wasn't paying attention to her conversation. My bad...

"It's the big one, I'll contact the Fleetmaster and tell him to meet him at hanger six. Tell him to go with him to the Bridge and await our arrival." With that said I go to contact Rtas. "Fleetmaster Rtas, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Iron Lord, what would you have me do?"

"Please, Rtas, this is a private channel, its just Johnny or John when we're not around any of the others, and go to Hanger six of the _Undying Loyalty_ to meet a guest. He's a very frail human, so he's going to be slow. But he is one of the best pilots there is here. And don't let anyone off that ship besides him!"

"I will see to it at once." Rtas was a very loyal man... Lizard... well just go with man. If you prove to him you have what it takes to lead and you have personal strength and honor, he will follow you to the end of the Universe. "Lenny, you get all that? Make sure nothing try's to scan the ship, and do play nice with EDI, she is a guest as well."

"You got it big man!" Lenny is my ships main AI. He's modeled after an old cowboy, and acts much the same as Roland on the _Infinity_. I like it, it adds a bit of relaxation to my day. As I was finishing all that up, Shepard's Shuttle descends towards us to pick us up.

"Huh, maybe I should have called for a Pelican, this is going to be a tight ride." And a tight ride it was, between three fully armored beings over 2 and a half meters tall, and another one that was just barely shorter, plus Shepards' crew, it was cramped! After a fifteen minute flight, we finally landed inside hangar six, next to the _Normandy_ , when we stepped out, Shepard and co eyes were wide open in shock, the Hanger I had picked was one that could fit my personal frigate in, plus some, in fact, it was my personal hangar for the ship, ha!

"How big is this ship?" Jacob breathed out while looking around at all the different species running around the hangar doing there jobs.

"5.7 kilometers if you want to be exactly on the dot." Spoke Lenny from a terminal a few feet away. Shepard and her crew jumped and drew there weapons out. Before they could do anything, I drew Last Word and leveled it at Shepard's head. She was looked down the sights of her rifle and at me at the same time with a questioning glare.

"Yes, my ship has a fully functional AI, in fact, it has three. I do not take threats to my people or my ships lightly, Shepard, and you just threatened both in one go."

"AI's are illegal all across the galaxy!" Miranda all but screamed out.

"Is that why your very ship has one? It is primitive yes, but with enough work, it can be as functional as our own. Lower your weapons, or you will be killed!" I yelled out angrily, no one, and I mean no one threatens my people! Shepard was the first to see sense, and lowered her rifle. "Jacob, Miranda, go back to the ship, and wait for me there."

"But Shepard, I sho-"

"Now, Miranda, that's an order!" With a solemn look, Jacob and Miranda both went back to the _Normandy_ , looking like two kids that just got berated by there mother.

"Finally, they're gone, come on Commander, I'll take you to the bridge." Looking at my team next,

"You guys are dismissed, I'll call for you when I need you." With a nod of there heads, they all go off there separate ways.

"Is this ship really that big? How do you have enough eezo to make a corp big enough to power this!?"

"It doesn't use eezo as a power source, there's just enough to use the relay system when it's needed, though. The _Undying_ and all the ships under my command use either nuclear power reactors or there own races version of it to power it."

"But, how? Everything is eezo powered, everything!" Shepard was confused completely by what she had just been told! A ship that isn't ran by an eezo core? Unthinkable! Chuckling to myself, I can't help but find her reaction funny! "I assure you, It's possible, now, i'm sure you have questions about my Friends, no?"

"Yes, what are they? I've never met either of those two species before!"

"Three, the woman, she wasn't human either. But to answer your question, The mouthless ones are called the Protoss, they feed off light, and communicate telepathically. They have a strong Psionic power in each of them, in fact those blades of his are pure Psionic energy, and Psionic energy is sort of like your Biotics as in they can physically manifest a piece of there power. Like you can your barriers, they can make those blades and more or less shoot lighting. The bulkier ones, are called Sangheili. They are a proud warrior race! Each and every one is trained from a young age to be the most effective fighter they can ever be, even the females. As they get older, nowadays, the also can choose a 'path' to follow. That leads us to the Eldar, the woman with my team is in an Eldar. They resemble humans very closely. They also remind me of the old legend of elves! Normally, they are larger then humans, the shortest Eldar I've ever seen was around two and a quarter meters tall. All three of them live extremely long lives, the elder able to go on to tens of thousands of years. The Sangheili are able to make it to a couple hundred easily, and the Protoss, well I've yet to hear of one dying of old age!"

"That is almost unbelievable!" Shepard was absolutely enthralled by this! Each of those species can live so long it was amazing! "Well what about the ones in the hangar? Are you and the others just as human as I am as well?"

"Far from it commander, our oldest one human is Ambassador Clayton! He's at a ripe old age of two hundred and twelve! To answer your questions about the hangar species as well, the little ones with tanks on there backs are call Unggoy, they breath methane, hence the tanks. They only reach around 1.52 meters. They aren't the smartest, but they do enjoy working and for some odd reason pleasing the higher races. The floating purple ones are called Huragok, they don't care about anything but fixing and upgrading tech, and they don't seem to age at all. At least, not to what anyone else can tell!"

"All of you work together? What about those big worm like ones with the blue armor and spikes?" Agh, yes, I forgot that the Mgalekgolo have made themselves guardians of the ships.

"Those are called Mgalekgolo, or Hunters for short. They are actually colonies of little worms that the more of them are together, the smarter they get. Each Hunter comes with a 'bondmate', or what we guess is the other half of the colony. They are our Shock troops as well as ever vigilant guardians!" Shepard was absolutely perplexed as we neared the Bridge.

"Once we get in there, you're going to meet a few of my most trusted people, please play nice, a couple of them are very aggressive sometimes!" I couldn't help but grin at Shepard when she paled as the doors opened. The Bridge as always was bustling with activity. People running this way and that delivering and filing reports, and making sure the ship is in tip top shape as well as the fleet.

"Iron Lord, Admiral Hood is trying to reach you on the comms, should I patch him though?" Asked a young Ensign standing by the Holotable.

"Well of course, put him on!" I happily rattled off as I walk up to stand next to Jim and Rtas. The two were arguing as always...

"I'm tellin ya, Rtas, The Ravens are going to win the tournament this year!"

"They most absolutely will not! The Guardians will take the lead, human!"

"Are you to seriously arguing over Grif-ball?" These two are my closest military advisors along side Johnson, but he's leading the security detail with the Council of Advisors at the Citadel. The three always got into arguments over either sports or game shows that the Allied Species put on for entertainment when we finally got organized as a Nation.

"Ah, Johnny, you're here buddy! It's about time, I though I was going to have to become the next Iron Lord if you didn't show up!" Jim was always in a good mood now that Sarah was completely free of the Zerg, it did wonders for his health.

"As if you could take the mantle, it would be I that would replace him!" Rtas had gotten married not even 8 months ago to a commoner Sangheili female, but she had turned the gruff and short tempered war veteran into the pleasing and fun person currently in front of me.

"I am not going anywhere for awhile you two ass-holes!" I say in good spirit.

"Sir, I have Admiral Hood on the line, He does not seem happy at all!" The same Ensign from earlier told me, I'll have to keep an eye on the young man, he always performs his job well.

"Alright, Lenny, bring Hood up at the table please." Just as I said that, a life size bust of the man appeared in the center of the table.

"Iron Lord, we have a bit of a problem." He spoke bluntly. I always like that about him.

"What's wrong? Did you make it to the Citadel Council alright?" I was kind of worried, with Hood on the job, we never had problems, and with all four of the Council there, we definitely should not be having any problems what-so-ever!

"The Citadel Council, is wanting to declare war on us, or have us destroy all AI and hand over our Technology, Artanis had to physically hold back Thel when the Turian Councilor declared us liars." That, was not good...

-An hour Earlier-

'Coming out of Slipspace in 5...4...3...2...1...Exiting now' Spoke the Navigations officer on board the _Spear of Adun._ Admiral Lord Terrance Hood had lived through all the horrors of the Human-Covenant War, but he still would rather deal with that then the politicians and political hell storm he had just ignited by showing up with these massive ships of war and a fleet ready for a fight. Immediately he could see the many ships of the Citadel Fleet scrambling to get between his fleet and the Citadel itself.

'Prelate Ecarion, send a message of peace on all comm bands, I want them to know we mean no harm, yet' Spoke the giant of a Protoss next to Hood. Artanis was absolutely enormous, even among his brethren!

"It's about damn time we make it hear, I was worried we had gotten lost!" Grumbled Sgt Major Avery Johnson, he was the acting head of security for this diplomatic mission. Hood and Thel could not help but chuckle at his gruff attitude towards all this.

"You and me both, Human, I personally want to get this done and get back to my personal projects." Agh yes, the Phoenix Lord himself reminds everyone he was here, Maugen Ra matched Johnson pretty well with his attitude, at least compared to other Eldar!

'Lord Hood, they have responded and asked to send an unarmed emissary ship to follow there vessel to a docking point.'

"Inform them we do not have any unarmed vessels, we will take one of our Frigates to the meeting place. Come Council, to the _Midsummer's Night._ " They'll take the smallest ship that came along for the journey. Even then it was larger then some of there "cruisers". It could probably outmatch there so called mighty Dreadnoughts as well. After a few minutes of taxing the frigate into the docking bay. The council prepared to leave the ship.

"Alright, alright, you all know the drill, stay behind me and in between the honor guards." Johnson said almost sounding bored with this. Hood couldn't blame him. The Honor Guard Consisted of two Golden armored Sangheili with there high crested helmets and extremely ornate armor, two gold Hunters, which were just absolutely titanic now due to age and there colonies growing in size, they were there for extra protection and intimidation. There was also two silver armored Marines in the Terran Powered Armor, behind all them was a pair of Protoss Storm Callers in there gold armor and robes, and following them all was a pair of Eldar Autarchs. Each honor Guard member was actually a high ranking member of the military. The Two marines were both Sgt Majors, The Hunters were the oldest Bond Brothers they had, the Protoss Storm Callers were with Artanis since the beginning, the Sangheili were both Field Marshals, and the Eldars were both thousands of years old, and considered just underneath the Phoenix Lord himself! Johnson was at the front of the procession in a modified Mjolnir/ODST armor set plated in chrome to add to the Regal effect of the Guard. The Counselors themselves were each wearing there best! Artanis in his white and gold armor, Thel in his bronze and silver Arbiter armor, Hood in his freshly pressed and fitted dress uniform, even Maugen Ra had put on a set of silver and gold armor and robes! As they marched forwards, a shaking c-sec officer stepped out in front of them.

"I-i-i-im sor-r-ry, but you'll ha-v-v-v-e to leave your weapons." Hood had to give the young man credit, even he didn't know how he would react to all this. With the officers words though, The Honor Guard readied their weapons! The Hunters charged their Cannons, the Eldars started gathering warp energy, the Protoss started crackling with Psionic lightning, the Sangheili lowered their pikes, and Johnson and the Marines cocked there rifles and shotgun, respectively. In the midst of all this, the Counselors weren't even fazed as the on looking civilians started yelling and the scared C-sec officers drew there weapons! Hood was honestly getting a little excited at this, finally, some action, as unwanted as it was.

"Wait! Wait! Officers lower your weapons! Good people, there is no need to raise such weapons against anyone here, you will be safe without them!" Came the frantic voice of an Asari. The Iron Lord had informed them of all the council races and what there purposes and uses were. The Asari were the longest living, and the politicians of the galaxy. He guessed that this was the Councilor Tevos, based off the pictures he had been provided. Pushing Johnson aside, Hood stepped forward.

"I'm afraid my men can not do that, Councilor. As you can see, they took offence to that, and we will not be without protection in unknown territory." Hood spoke confidently.

"I assure you, good sir that C-sec is more then capable of protecting you in any event! There is no need for such hostility!" She was taken back a bit at being identified so quickly as a councilor

"Either way, we will not part with our weapons for multiple reasons, so they either join us, or we walk right now and leave." Hood was not going to budge, his two marines walked forward to flank him along with Johnson.

After a long pause, with a thinking pose on her face, Tevos came to an inner agreement with herself, "As you wish sir, they can accompany you into the chamber, but please, walk with me." She gestured invitingly towards a massive building on the other side of a grass and fountain filled lawn. Hood nodded and looked at the other Councilors who joined him in walking along side Tevos towards the Citadel Council building. Inside, Hood could see that the stands surrounding the council chamber were packed full with Species of every kind and what he guessed were news cameras everywhere. He also noticed the council members on the raised dias. He did not like the though of them looking down on him and his allies. Looking back towards the Hunter pair he motioned them forward. Tevos stood off to the side curiously watching the pair as Hood pointed towards himself and his allies and then at the raised dias that the rest of the Citadel council was on. Nodding there great heads, the enormous creatures reached out there shield arms and let the Council of the Assembly members climb on top of them so they would be level with there Citadel counter parts.

"A cheap trick having a higher position councilors, good thing my boys care about me." Hood rattled off with dry humor in his voice. As Tevos took her position back next to her cohorts she decided she should introduce each other.

"We do not intend it to insult, good sir, but please, we should exchange names, and proceed with these peace talks." She motions to her right to the Human to start.

"I am Councilor Anderson, former Captain of the Alliance navy. It is a pleasure to meet you all." Anderson says with honesty and warmth, and a genuine smile on his face. Always like the guy!

"I am the Turian Councilor Sparatus." The Turian speaks quickly and with an air of dismissal in his voice and stance.

"As I am sure you guessed, I am the Asari Councilor Tevos, like Councilor Anderson stated earlier, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Tevos introduces herself with that ever present smile on her face.

"I am the Salarian Councilor Valern, pleasure to meet you." Rattled off the Gecko.

"The pleasure is ours Councilors, I will allow my fellows to introduce themselves." Pointing to his left, Maegan was on the far end and had to start.

"I am Phoenix Lord Maugen Ra, I lead the Eldar people." Standing straight with his head held high, Maugen does look every bit a lord. Next up is Artanis.

'I am Hierarch Artanis, of the Protoss people.' With there weird thought speech, everyone starts clamoring and talking, which quickly becomes a roar in the chamber.

"Order, Order! Silence everyone please!" Tevos manages to take control back and hush the crowd, motioning towards Hood, "Please, continue." Hood looks to his right, where the Arbiter stands.

"I am Arbiter Thel Vadam, former Surpreme Commander of the Covenant. I lead what remains of the Species of the Covenant and the Sangheili!" Thel spoke with absolute authority in his proud voice. Hood could not blame him for it.

"Finally, I am Admiral Lord Hood, I lead the Human faction of the Assembly." With that said, an uproar began in the crowd again! The Asari councilor was forced to remove all but a few of the watchers this time.

"What do you mean Human, Lord Hood? Are you not part of the Alliance?" Asked Valern.

"No, I am not, in fact, we are almost an entirely different breed of humans."

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Tevos, but before Hood could respond, Sparatus, interrupts him.

"Surely you don't believe they came with peace in there hearts, Tevos, have you seen that giant ship they parked right outside the citadel!? They didn't even come unarmed!"

"Sparatus was it? Hmm I had hear your people were honorable warriors, but now all I am seeing is a sniveling wretch!" Barked out Thel. With no way to hide his surprise at the accusation, Sparatus physically recoiled at his words!

"Come now, Arbiter, let them speak, they're just scared." Piped up a voice from Admiral Hoods communicator. He lifted his arm to the wrist mounted device and pressed a button, and out popped the AI Roland.

"Roland? Why are you listening in on these talks?" Asked Hood curiously.

"What is that!? Is that an AI? Lord Hood, I demand you destroy that abomination this instant! We have out-lawed AI's in the whole of the Citadel space!" Sparatus demanded, expecting his words to be followed.

"We do not take orders from you, Sparatus!" Spat out Thel in response.

"If you do not destroy it, we will have no choice but to forcibly remove it and do it ourselves!" At those words, the Hunter pair pulled back there arms and cradled there cargo and raised there other arms and started charging up there cannons! The Sangheili roared in outrage as the rest of the guard made themselves ready to take action!

"Councilors! Wait, please there is no reason for this action!" Anderson was trying his best to calm down both parties. Sparatus had pulled his own pistol out of somewhere and Valern had readied his Omni-tool. While this was going on, Hood thought it would be a good idea to contact the Iron Lord.

"Helmsman! Set a Rendezvous with the Council of the Assemblies fleet at the Citadel! Make all haste now! Rtas, as soon as we get there, return to your ship and take command of the combined fleet! Bring all ships to high alert and make sure all weapons are primed and ready! I also want a hot Exfil prepped and ready for me and the council when you get there!" I angrily barked orders to my Fleetmaster.

"For you when we get there? Are you not traveling with us?" Curiously asked Rtas.

"No, I'm going to see if I can transmat to Hoods position," Storming away, I was vaguely aware that Shepard had turned to follow me.

"What do you mean by transmat?" She asked fast. All she knows right now is she is technically on an enemy vessel, with what would appear to be the head of said enemy storming down a hall right in front of her!

"Sparky, you're up, we've never tried one of this distance before, but don't fail me buddy, and I mean I'm going there right now before anything escalates without my presence!" Holding out my hand, my old Ghost, Sparky, comes to life in my hand.

You got it, Guardian, lets do this!

"I suggest you grab on now or you'll arrive after me with the rest of the fleet!" Just as Jane touches his arm, they both start to glow and what looks like pixels starts floating off of them. With a sudden woosh the next thing Jane knows, she's stumbling backwards from the angry man and lands on her but confused about what just happened. I ready myself and prepare to slam my hammer down. No one has noticed my presence behind the Citadel Council yet, but in a few seconds they're going to! I get ready to yell out over the yelling of the councilors on both sides.

"Enough!" With that one word I slam the end of the shaft of my hammer on the platform next to my feet, and a shockwave of Arc energy rushes out in all directions and temporarily stuns all electronics in the immediate vicinity! With a start, everyone quiets down quickly and all eyes turn around to view the site of a tall man in resplendent silver and gold armor with wolf motifs carved into it. I seem like an Avatar of Anger with the Solar flames licking the edges of my armor and fur collar and cape.

"Councilors of the Citadel, I present to you the leader of our Assembly, Iron Lord John Marcus!" Hood yells to the hushed crowd that had gathered in the chamber.

"I did not want to have to reveal myself so soon but you have forced my hand Councilors! I had heard great things about you all, I did not expect for it to come to me having to become a part of what I trusted to my Advisers!" I sound absolutely furious, and to add more to my effect, I crank up the Solar power around me a bit more till the flames are actually roaring out behind me! God this feels awesome! I think Sparatus just shit his pants! Ha!

"We are terribly sorry, Iron Lord, it is just a big misunderstanding with what Sparatus has declared with what we actually can and can not do!" Anderson was the only one brave enough to approach me and try to tell me what is happening. My Council is letting this play out it seems. I look over towards Anderson and give him my reply.

"Fair enough Councilor, but I do want to hear why Roland interrupted this meeting." As I say that I look over at Hood, with Roland still on his wrist.

"Okay, well first things first, your Fleet had shown up and asked for an update, I told Rtas you had it under control but he is still sending your ship to sit right above us anyways, and secondly," Roland starts looking at Valern, "It'd be nice if you're people stop trying to hack our ships and comm lines Councilor." Roland stated with a smile. I look over at the Salarion.

"You had better do what he asked or we will have issues." And without missing a beat, the _Undying Loyalty_ comes into sight through the massive window to our backs. "Now, Councilors," I huff out while reaching up towards my helmet, "What do you say we continue these peace talks?" As I finish that sentence, I pull my Helm off and set in on the pommel of the hammer since it is now standing upside down next to me. To finish it off I give the Council a warm smile, "I do believe Councilor Sparatus will need to change his breeches first though!" At that, Anderson and I both start chuckling. Did I mention I really liked that guy?


	3. Chapter 3

WARNING! I CHANGED SOME THINGS IN THE STORY, NO LONGER A SELF INSERT, FELT AS IF IT WAS GOING TO FAR FROM THAT SO IT WILL BE AN O.C. WITH A LOT OF FIRST PERSON VIEW FOR THE PARTICULAR O.C. OBVIOUSLY I CHANGED HIS NAME

Chapter 3

When all else fails, I guess scaring the literal shit out of your opponents works pretty good. At least it did for myself! With Sparatus finally cowed and in a new pair of pants, Tevos leads me and my council into a more private chamber. Mainly because my little display shorted out all electronics and partially melted the platform we were on... Oops... Anderson decided to walk and talk with me, while Shepard had followed us as well.

"So, Lord Hood had started to explain how your Humans were different from my own humanity. Care to elaborate for me?

"Yes, for starters, thanks to gene therapy, my people will actually outlive you all by at least a couple hundred years. I myself am actually still young, but there are some in my army that look like me but are actually twice my age!" I respond happily, It's true though. After jumping through those previous universes, and living complete lives in them, I was dropped here at the age of 29.

"How old are you if I may ask?" Piped up Shepard.

"I'm actually as old as you are." With that said, the shock of it all registered on Andersons and Shepards faces! As we entered a smaller, more private room, I can see a long table with four seats on one side, and one on the other. "Not used to dealing with more then one at a time huh?" As I say that, I let Lord Hood sit, he is older then I am so it only seems right. As I stand next to him and my Advisers stand behind and besides us both, Tevos looks at my quizzically.

"Are you not the Leader of your faction? Normally the single seat is for the Leader of whatever race or group is talking with the Council."

"I am, but the old man hear looked as if he needed to sit down." I say with a smirk on my face. Hood just looks up at me and snorts.

"I may be old but I could work circles around you, boy!" This was a common thing when we are out of the public eye. My Councilors relax when its just us, and I suppose they do not care if the Citadel Council sees them like this.

"But anyways, back onto topic. We will not destroy our AI, they are a valuable part of our society. In fact, each of our ships has at least one dedicated to it." What I said shocked them.

"How can you trust them so much? They're AI! Aren't you worried about them turning on you?" Tevos was worried herself about that. With a sigh, both me and Hood raise our right hands, palm up. That's when Lenny and Roland decided to pop in on us.

"Sooooo, is the lizard-bird thing, going to freak out again, or can I talk?"

"Well, It's not like we don't have a 5 Kilometer long warship pointing its two main guns at us right now." Nonchalantly spoke Lenny.

"So these two, are AIs? They seem different from the Geth, almost like..." I interrupted Tevos before she could finish.

"Us, yeah, the have there own personalities and all that mumbo jumbo. Oh, Sparky, no need to be so shy!" as I said that, my Ghost companion popped out on my shoulder and did his little twirl he always does.

"Hi, um I'm Sparks, or as he calls me, Sparky." The little Ghost sounded nervous. Huh, guess he doesn't like new people ha!

"And what exactly are you?" Questioned Anderson. It seems him and Tevos would do most of the talking after that shitstorm outside.

"This is my Ghost, he's an AI yeah, but he is more or less a part of me as well. Okay, we're getting off track... again. We came here to negotiate a treaty, or a partnership more or less with the Citadel races."

"You do not wish to join us? Preposterous! We are the governing body of the galaxy, as well as the most powerful entity!" Sparatus looked genuinely offended at this! It was kind of funny that he thought that though!

"Correction, were the most powerful. Now, that's us. Unless you have a weapon that could destroy a small moon in one shot that is." The main guns on my personal ship were upgraded dramatically! That's not even to mention what my Mech forces can do to an army! Anderson decided to answer him.

"We are not here to have a measuring contest, Councilor Sparatus! If they do not wish to become a Client Race then so be it, we shall entertain the notion of this Alliance with them. Now, Iron Lord, is there anything specific you wish to talk about?"

"Yes, actually, there is a few points that I wish to discuss, first off, the boundaries of my people. We do not need the Mass Relays to move about the Galaxy quickly, so we wish to claim rights on any non-connected systems that are yet to be claimed by any of you, within reason that is. Does any of you have an issue with this?" The Councilors all looked to each other. Valern looked as emotionless as he always did in the games, Sparatus looked like he was going to have an aneurysm, Tevos seemed to be actually thinking, and Anderson seemed eager to get back to learning about us.

"Iron Lord, may we ask how you came by this technology you use?" Tevos asked me. I gave the best, smartest, and most thought out answer to her question, ever!

"No." Everyone in the room either cracked a smile, or gained a blank look on there faces.

"Good sir, we just wish to-"

"The answer is no. I will not give you my technology, or will I reveal our secrets to you." Tevos seemed taken by surprise. "Have you told your fellows about why you are so much further advanced, back in the temple of Athame? Or you, Sparatus. Have you let them know about your doomsday bomb on Tuchanaka? Or, was on Tuchanka, until me and my people found it and disarmed it. Valern, have you told them about all the experiments your people are doing? Or how you plan to uplift the Yahg? No, none of you have. In fact, the most honest Council race right now, would be the Humans." The Citadel council all looked shocked! I had just dropped a massive truth bomb on top of their heads! Serves them right for all the headaches they are going to cause! The tension was broken by the booming laugh of Anderson as he stepped around the table and held his hand out to me.

"That my friend, was the best political move I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing! The Alliance will recognize your autonomy and will even provide assistance whenever necessary!" I smiled and reached a hand out to shake with the man. Once again, I always did like the character! I'll be doubly sure to see him through the shit storm that is going to hit the galaxy within the year. In fact, I had some plans to delay the Reapers even more, thanks to another gift from my strange benefactor.

"Councilor Anderson, you are rushing into this! We should all converse over this offer, not become split up over it!" Tevos was trying to repair what little cohesion her and her cohorts had.

"There is nothing I believe we need to think about. They wish to assist us, but not become one of us, so I say we extend a hand in friendship." We released each others hands, and Anderson seemed to think he was finished. "Iron Lord, please do send a delegate to my office, I will speak with them over the matter of our Alliance." The man left after that, and the other councilors jaws hit the floor!

"Councilors, I will leave a delegation, as well as a protective element of five ships and there complementary ground troops. They will hammer out the details of an alliance. Fair warning, the speakers will be far older and more experienced then you in the world of politics. The head of the security detail will not put up with any threats what so ever. He has my full permission to use any force he deems necessary to secure the safety of Assembly personnel. That includes anyone that tries to hack or access any of our equipment or facilities. They will have an advanced AI providing cyber security, so you and your STG, or Spectres for that matter, will not be able to get any of our secrets, or they will be met with lethal force." The Council members all seemed shocked and a bit worried at everything he had just said. He basically told them he is going to change the face of the galaxy, and there is nothing anyone can do anything about it!

"Iron Lord, we will not stand for any of our people being harmed!" Sparatus seemed to be really steamed about that.

'You should have no issue keeping your talons out of our business then, turian.' Artanis spoke, using his peoples odd thought speech to convey his message. Tevos decided to answer for them.

"That shall be fine, Iron Lord. I would very much like to speak with them myself as well." Ever the polite one, she is. Just wait until the Reapers take the Citadel and kill everyone on it! Wait, no, I'm going to prevent that actually. I hope at least.

"Certainly, Councilor. I'll be in touch. Now, if you will excuse me and my Councilors shall retire. Shepard, your ship is under lockdown. Miranda had tried to explore..." I turned around and just walked off after that, knowing my friends will follow, and guessing by the extra boot steps, Shepard was with us as well.

Anderson entered his office, and was surprised to find another entity already inside! The figure was tall, taller then himself even, and wore long white robes. The figure was definitely a female from the shape, and the long almost pure white hair flowing down her back. Anderson could see two pointed ears poking out through the hair, so this must be an Eldar female. How she got in here without his security notifying him, he had no idea.

"Hello Councilor. I trust you had made a good impression with the Iron Lord and Assembly Council members?" Her voice was very melodic, but possessed an undertone of great wisdom to it. She turned around to face Anderson, and he was struck dumb by the view! Her facial structure was so perfect, it was completely alien! Slightly pale skin, full lips, and a pixie nose, with eyes set at just the right angle! Perfect heart shaped face as well. Her eyes were a bright golden color, almost shining! Anderson looked her over, and could see the armor she wore was a form fitting plate suit with the white robes over top. The plates were silver, and had very familiar looking motifs carved into each plate. He looked back into her eyes, and was astounded with the depth of wisdom he could see in them!

"Ugh, Yes, I do believe I have. I suppose you are the delegate from him?" She casually nodded and walked over to a seat across his desk from where he sits. He followed her lead and took his own seat.

"Would you like some water or anything else? And how may I address you?"

"Water would be nice, yes. I am Farseer Maetris. I fulfill the role of being the Iron Lords personal assistant, Therapist, or any other title our people would refer to me as. John, even though he did not foresee the completely unnecessary tensions, had known you would be the most welcoming one, so had sent me ahead of time to await you here to speak. So go ahead and ask any questions you wish before we get into the details of our alliance."

"Well, Farseer, I would first like to offer up my gratitude that you and your leader are so trusting of me. Secondly, I can offer my complete support of your Assembly. A good friend of mine in the Alliance military will see everything my way as well, and together, the Alliance will willingly support you as well. Will you be the ambassador?" Maetris took the offered cup of water and took a sip before smiling.

"No, my job requires me to watch over the Iron Lord as much as I can. It will pain him to have me so far away from him as we speak, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make to prove his level of trust in you. The actual ambassador team will consist of a Sangheili elder, a Protoss elder, another Farseer, and the oldest human representative."

"The Iron Lord mentioned that his people are able to live much longer then my own, may I ask the age of the representative?" Maetris laughed slightly at that and set her water down.

"He did say you would be curious about that kind of thing. Something about how you were middle aged. But to answer your question, Ambassador Clayton is actually eight hundred and thirty two earth years old. he is nearing the end of his span, but he is a great political player in the field, as well as great chess player and flatterer." Anderson was stunned to say the least! 832 years old!

"By God! He is older then many Asari in know!"

"Oh? Then it will be an even greater shock to learn just how old I am." She had a tone of playfulness in her voice, which worked to calm down Anderson enough to focus.

"If it isn't too impolite, I am actually curious now."

"Hmm, I am currently one of the longest lived Eldar left. I had just 'celebrated' my two thousandth and second birthday. The Iron Lord is an interesting man to say the least. He had gotten his entire flagship in on it, and had set up a large celebration now that my people are no longer in danger of attracting... unwanted attention."

"Your people were in danger?"

"My people are not from here. Back home, their is a great evil. So terrible was our fear of it, that I couldn't even enjoy the simple fruit more then a few times a week. If it ever gotten a hold of us, we were doomed for eternity. But alas, we are free of that now, and it can not follow and haunt us here. The Iron Lord has seen to that."

"He is something. So young, but to wield such powers! That little trick with his fire was amazing as well."

"I can also teleport." Anderson jumped and looked behind him in surprise! The Iron Lord was standing right behind him!

"How did... When did... You know what, I'm getting to old for this shit." He massaged his temples as John walked around and stood next to the Farseer. Anderson could see an almost pained and panicked look in his eyes while he smiled.

"Maetris, I require your help. It is getting to much." She nodded and looked on in concern as the Iron Lord closed his eyes and controlled his breathing for a second. Anderson looked for an explanation.

"The things and events he has witnessed and partook in, would leave any of the other Councilors a wreck and burden on others. For him to be able to focus, I can use my powers to help hold off the memories side effects on his psyche."

"I will be taking her away, Councilor Anderson. I have directed the Ambassadors to come directly to you to finalize everything. You will also have free passage into our own embassy when it is set up. Have a good day, David Anderson." With a flash of light and what looked like pixels, the two disappeared from Anderson's office as he stared in surprise at the now empty space!

"Well, whatever plagues that mans mind, I hope can be resolved."

John and Maetris appeared in what was John's personal cabin, and he just seemed to break under some invisible weight! The Eldar woman had to physically support him to sit in a fine chair by a table.

"Please, John, calm down, I'll help you as I always have!" Maetris felt his hand squeeze hers as his eyes screwed shut tightly. She went and touched his temple, and in a push of her psychic powers, she was in his head with him.

She looked around, she had never been in this particular memory before. She watched as the familiar olive armor of a past life of his walked through a completely dark ship, followed by a squad of the smaller humans. She had a guess of what this memory was, but was surprised completely by the sight of a horribly more twisted human form then normal! The body was rotting more then the 'flood' ones normally more, and it had two long arms coming from its shoulders. It was covered in a strange tattered armor she was unfamiliar with, and was constantly twitching at extreme speeds! John and his party hadn't seen it yet.

A human woman, wearing some sort of civilian clothes, was practically hugging the back of John in fear. She was rightly fearful of what she couldn't see. She watched as John stood up straight to say something, and in a flash, the vile creature was in front of him! With an amazing feat of strength, John was batted aside like a fly, and hell had come to the other humans!

In the span of a few seconds, the thing ripped through them all, sending blood, body parts, and organs flying everywhere! It seemed to slow for a second in front of the unarmored human, and the proceeded to absolutely brutalize her! In the few seconds, John had stood, and charged the being as it knocked aside his weapon. It was so busy tearing apart the screaming human that it never noticed John slam into it with enough force to break off one of its arms inside the woman's stomach. The thing turned to him, and to her surprise, stabbed through his armor! Right on the right side of the chest, close to the shoulder. She now knew where that mark came from on the armor on a stand in his chambers. He seemed to have gone into a fit of rage, and proceeded to rip apart the nightmarish creature. He dropped the remains, and she could feel the memory turning into a waking nightmare. He turned around to see the woman had gone through a change, and now looked completely different, and was wearing a hospital gown. She also seemed much younger. His mind was playing tricks on him, twisting his horrid memories that had even given her nightmares. She marched forward and stood in front of the olive armor, and placed her hand on the face plate.

"John. It's just a twisted dream. It's trying to burrow deeper into your mind. Just let go of your grief. Release the feeling that you could have done something different." She pushed with her psychic powers, and watched as she managed to get his attention. His helmeted head turned towards her, and in a dim flash of warm light, he was gone. Maetris turned around, and was startled to see the transformed woman standing in front of her, staring up into her.

 ** _"MEDDLER. YOU CAN NOT PROTECT HIM FOREVER. HE WILL BE MY SLAVE ONE DAY, I AM PATIENT. HE IS ONLY A MERE HUMAN."_**

The voice was deep and demonic, one of the worst things she had ever heard in her long life.

"He is no mere mortal human, creature of nightmares! The living nightmares he has fought against make you pale in comparison, daemon!"

 ** _"DAEMON? I AM NO DAEMON, FARSEER."_** The creature changed again, except this time, stood taller then her! Her eyes widened when it stopped changing, and she felt as if she was staring at John! It looked exactly like him, except the armor was a wicked copy of his Iron Lord set, and the eyes were pitch black orbs, with a spider web of cracks that told of some red light behind them.

 ** _"I AM HIS INNER SELF, THE PRODUCT OF HIS BURDENS AND HIS FEARS. ONE DAY I WILL BE LET OUT, AND WHEN THAT DAY COMES I WILL ENJOY FEELING YOUR BONES BREAK UNDER MY HANDS!"_** With a swipe of its hand, Maetris was forcibly pushed from his mindscape. She opened her eyes in the real world, and could feel blood trailing down her own face. John was sleeping, but he looked peaceful at least. Sparky popped into existence next to his Guardian, and looked to Maetris in what looked like concern.

"Farseer, are you alright?"

"It was much worse this time. It finally spoke to me, and it is a greater threat then I had imagined." The Ghost transmatted John's armor, leaving him in a pair of loose fitting sweat pants and shirt. Maetris used her powers to move him to his bed while she cleaned the blood off her face. She methodically took off each piece of her armor and robes, and placed them carefully in a container, leaving her in an undersuit. She walked over towards the bed, and laid down next to him. His body turned towards her, and reflexively pulled her against himself. She reached up and touched his temple while closing her eyes and relaxing. She used her powers to once again enter his mind, but this time, was watching his dreams. It was simple. A child sat on an old wooden dock with a fishing rod in hand, and happily fished next to John. The child was a girl, and had long bleach blonde hair that reached her lower back. Maetris smiled as she watched the scene, knowing that in this, John was really happy and at peace.


End file.
